God told Isaiah whom He wanted to have mercy on when He said, “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy [italics mine] upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon” (55:7).
We certainly do not have to list an array of references from the N.T. in order to identify those to whom God wishes to give the mercy of salvation. Let's take the answer given by Paul and Silas to the question, “What must I do to be saved?” “And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” (Acts 16:30,31).
When God chooses the one who believes in Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior to show his mercy in salvation, He is choosing whom He wills. Such a decision can in no way be viewed as a decision that God is forced to make. The whole idea of salvation was God’s idea from the outset. He could have chosen to have left the whole human race in sin without offering salvation had He chosen to do so. He planned to provide and offer salvation to lost mankind long before (in eternity past) man felt the pangs of being lost. It was not even in response to man’s pleading (much less demanding) that God chose to offer redemption.
The provision of salvation through the death and righteousness of Christ was totally God’s idea and totally God’s provision. It came about as a result of His own free acts. The decision to offer salvation on the condition of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior originated with God and no one else. The decision to commission believers to take the gospel into the world was God’s decision, not man’s. The decision for the Holy Spirit to work in men's hearts in connection with the preached Word was God’s decision.
The whole plan of salvation from beginning to end is the work and plan of God. God is in charge. When salvation is offered on the condition of faith in Christ, that in no way weakens the words, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” God’s sovereignty is fully in control in this view.
We certainly do not have to list an array of references from the N.T. in order to identify those to whom God wishes to give the mercy of salvation. Let's take the answer given by Paul and Silas to the question, “What must I do to be saved?” “And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” (Acts 16:30,31).
When God chooses the one who believes in Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior to show his mercy in salvation, He is choosing whom He wills. Such a decision can in no way be viewed as a decision that God is forced to make. The whole idea of salvation was God’s idea from the outset. He could have chosen to have left the whole human race in sin without offering salvation had He chosen to do so. He planned to provide and offer salvation to lost mankind long before (in eternity past) man felt the pangs of being lost. It was not even in response to man’s pleading (much less demanding) that God chose to offer redemption.
The provision of salvation through the death and righteousness of Christ was totally God’s idea and totally God’s provision. It came about as a result of His own free acts. The decision to offer salvation on the condition of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior originated with God and no one else. The decision to commission believers to take the gospel into the world was God’s decision, not man’s. The decision for the Holy Spirit to work in men's hearts in connection with the preached Word was God’s decision.
The whole plan of salvation from beginning to end is the work and plan of God. God is in charge. When salvation is offered on the condition of faith in Christ, that in no way weakens the words, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” God’s sovereignty is fully in control in this view.
F. Leroy Forlines, Romans, ed. Robert E. Picirilli, The Randall House Bible Commentary (Nashville, TN: Randall House, 1987), p. 268, emphases and square brackets in original
Copyright © F. Leroy Forlines, 1987. All rights reserved.
In order to purchase Forlines’ Randall House Bible Commentary on Romans,* see the links to the following websites:
Addendum (24 Sept. 2022). Franklin Leroy Forlines (1926–2020) died on Tuesday, 15 December 2020, aged ninety-four.
* Unless otherwise indicated, I do not earn commissions (or favours, for that matter) for the purchase of books recommended or referenced on this website. For further information, see my web page, ‘A Word on The Neo-Remonstrance Blog’.
